Test PB Collection: FTE

"Got 'em!" That's the message we've all been waiting for.

Remember to join us on February 18 at the King City Fairgrounds Pavilion Building from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm to get your Beef Quality Assurance certification and enjoy lunch with the Monterey County Cattlemen at their Spring Meeting.

There's good news and not-so-good news about the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count in California. Last December the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation released preliminary figures. Now they've announced the final tally: almost 272,000 monarchs (Danaus plexippus).

You could say that noted entomologist/author Stephen Buchmann has a thing for buds, bees, beetles and butterflies...buds that burst into flowers, and bugs that burst into pollinators.

It's that time of year when grower's think about pruning their avocado trees. What scars many growers is the regrowth that occurs. If the cut is to the middle of a branch, there is all kinds of wild growth that results. The best cuts are back to a crotch or a subtending branch.

When Richard Smith tells you that he is impressed with efficacy of an organic herbicide you better take notice. Richard shared his results on this blog site last year and showed good weed control with 'Suppress' from Westbridge.

Growers are invited to attend a focus group meeting to discuss conservation agriculture and wildlife friendly farming in the Delta. The meeting is jointly organized by Audubon California, CA Department of Water Resources (DWR), and University of CA Cooperative Extension.

Bee my valentine. There's something about a honey bee foraging on a flowering quince that makes you long for Valentine's Day and the end of winter. Flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) is one of the first flowers of the year to bloom. And bloom it does, in between the rain drops and rays of sunshine.

If you go looking for a bumble bee, you might find a butterfly. And vice versa. The UC Davis Arboretum last Saturday (Feb. 6), was just starting to "get its spring on.

Dr.